


Temporary Ghost

by Daddy_Clarinetist



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Ben Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Ben Hargreeves' Tentacles | Bentacles, Follows canon kinda, Gen, Ghosts, It still works though, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Klaus and Ben have a platonic relationship, Platonic Soulmates, Soulmates, and I think it’s a happy ending, and they get one, ben knows how to lecture, but it’s not explicit or anything, canon character deaths and disappearances, however, however Luther and Allison do have a romantic relationship to follow canon stuff, im not really sure, just mentioned a few times, not too much angst, open ended ending kinda but it’s happy, small dave x Klaus scene, so no incest there, soulmates where you swap bodies, the timeline might be a little mixed up, time traveling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2020-05-18 13:01:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19335034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daddy_Clarinetist/pseuds/Daddy_Clarinetist
Summary: There was a legend that every child was told of; a legend that held more truth than fiction. It told of two beings who developed such a strong bond that they swapped bodies. They had no idea what was happening to them, and for the next twenty four hours, they did everything they could think of to switch back. Once the day was over, they found themselves to have been returned to their respective bodies. Still confused, they determined that they were so close that their souls naturally felt comfortable sharing vessels with the other.This was the beginning of soulmates.~Four and Six were the closest of siblings. They were each other’s best friend. They might possibly also be platonic soulmates.Or Klaus and Ben get the love they deserve through each other with some canon angst thrown in.





	Temporary Ghost

There was a legend that every child was told of; a legend that held more truth than fiction. It told of two beings who developed such a strong bond that they swapped bodies. They had no idea what was happening to them, and for the next twenty four hours, they did everything they could think of to switch back. Once the day was over, they found themselves to have been returned to their respective bodies. Still confused, they determined that they were so close that their souls naturally felt comfortable sharing vessels with the other.

 

This was the beginning of soulmates. Not everybody had a soulmate. In fact, it was a somewhat rare occurrence. However, it happened enough for people to know that they existed. Some were blessed with having a person who would always be there for them, whether romantic or platonic. The amount of times soulmates switched bodies varied with each pair. Some only switched once their entire lives, and that was enough for them. Others were once a year, a month, every few months, etc… Some pairs switched for more or less than a day, but most were around those twenty four hours.

 

The first time a pair would switch usually happened somewhere in their teenage years, but it was not an exact known science. Some were as young as eight while others were as old as thirty when they first switched. Many spent those years hoping that they’d have a soulmate, but those who didn’t usually found themselves happy in other ways instead.

 

If there was a person who had a soulmate, then it was very likely that they were the only ones in their family to have one. The percentage of people who had a soulmate was so low that it was certainly a feat to have more than one family member with one.

 

Of course, there were always exceptions.

 

…

 

Sir Reginald Hargreeves glanced at all of the baby carriages in the living room. Women tended to each of them, making sure they were all healthy. Once they were found to be fine, the ladies brought them up to their new rooms where they would sleep for years to come.

 

In a few years time, training would begin. For now, he would observe. Their powers would show up soon, and when they did, he would be ready to harness and grow them.

 

…

 

As the children grew up, they had to learn about soulmates on their own. Their father did not bother to explain it to them, so for years, they had no idea what they were or that they even existed.

 

Then, one of their nannies from when they were seven switched with her soulmate.

 

“I’m sorry, children, but I’m not your nanny. I’m her soulmate. I’m afraid that I don’t know any of you or how to do this job.”

 

The children stared at her- er, technically him, but to them it was still their female nanny- disbelief on their faces.

 

“Is this a new game?” Number Four asked, “I don’t like it. Seems boring.”

 

“Doesn’t make sense,” Number One added.

 

“Maybe you should explain yourself,” Number Five, who was the only one suspicious enough of the words being true, suggested.

 

“Um,” the Not-Nanny said, “I’m not sure if I should tell you if you don’t know already. Surely your parents have their reasons for not mentioning anything.”

 

Number Two visibly rolled his eyes. Most of them knew that these “reasons” were Reginald trying to keep them from normalcy and trying to manipulate them. The only one who fully believed in their father was Number One.

 

“Yes, and he’ll have good reason to not tell us,” Number One said, trying to take charge, “so maybe you should run along and bring us our nanny back. Stop pretending to be someone else.”

 

Number Three spoke up next, knowing the rest of her siblings were just as curious as her as to what the nanny was talking about. “I heard a rumor that you told us the truth about what’s going on in full detail.”

 

And so, the Not-Nanny explained soulmates to the children. He told the legend, talked about how it was present in modern times, and gave as many details as he could remember. By the end, all of the children had looks of wonder on their faces.

 

“What is going on here?” The voice of Sir Reginald Hargreeves rang out. Everyone froze, unsure of what to say.

 

“I’m sorry, sir,” the Not-Nanny said, “I was telling the children about soulmates since I had switched with mine.”

 

Their father crept forward, circling around the Not-Nanny in a predatory manner. “So you’ve been filling their brains with dreams that will almost certainly not come true.”

 

“Well, I-“

 

“Save it. You may go. Let your soulmate know that she has been fired. I do not need tales to be told to my children when they should be focused on their training.”

 

None of them could remember the nanny’s name. That had been her first day.

 

…

 

For a few years, the children pretty much forgot all about the concept of soulmates. It wasn’t like they had any other choice. Reginald worked them hard, forcing them to train everyday. There wasn’t any room for wishes of soulmates.

 

That was, until they were ten. They were in the middle of group training, and everything seemed as fine as it usually was. Some excelled more than others; some struggling to keep up at all. It was their normal.

 

Then, One and Three both stumbled, falling to the ground. Neither were near each other, and nothing had pushed them or anything like that. They just collapsed.

 

“Number One! Number Three! What is the meaning of this?” Their father demanded to know. A moment passed before either of them tried getting up. It was One who moved first. He tried to stand, but he was off balanced and fell back down.

 

“What the-“ he grumbled, looking down at himself. What he saw shocked him, his eyes growing wide. “What is going on?!”

 

“Number One, calm yourself!” Reginald shouted. “We must continue this training!”

 

“I’m not- what?”

 

The others gathered around, whispering amongst themselves. They were all hopelessly confused, and maybe a little worried.

 

Three looked up, then at One, and back to herself. Immediately, her eyes shifted back to One.

 

“What?” Three squeaked. One met her eyes, fear clouding them both.

 

“Is that you, One?” One asked Three.

 

“Yeah, and that means you’re Three,” Three told One.

 

Sir Reginald Hargreeves looked horrified. He quickly ordered the others to leave before turning to deal with the newfound soulmates.

 

“It seems like we’re going to have to set up a new protocol.”

 

…

 

A few months later, One and Three’s bond seemed to grow, which was the opposite of what their father had wanted. They did their best to keep it a secret when they hung out, but neither were ever good at being subtle. There had been one more time in the past months where they had switched, but not enough time had passed to pick up on how often they would.

 

Currently, the rest of the siblings had to listen to the two get chewed out by their father.

 

“You are siblings, and that is not the proper way for siblings to act!” Nobody told Reginald that they were technically adopted. Only One and Three cared about those technicalities. “If you are to be soulmates, you will do it in a way to benefit the team! It will strictly be professional. On your switch days, you will learn how to use each other’s powers so that you aren’t useless during these times.”

 

They all knew their relationship would not simply be professional.

 

Later that night, Number Six heard a quiet knock at his bedroom door. Already knowing who it was, he sneakily opened it up, letting Number Four creep in.

 

“Ghosts again?” Six asked as he sat back on his bed, picking up the book he had been reading. Four nodded, climbing into the bed with his brother. The two of them were very close, closer than maybe even One and Three despite their soulmate bond. Though, for them, it wasn’t romantic.

 

“Imagine if we were soulmates,” Four muttered, revealing that it wasn’t only ghosts that had been on his mind. “Wouldn’t that make sense?”

 

“Yes, but from what I’ve read, it’s rare that two out of seven of us have a soulmate. It would be almost impossible for any of the rest of us to have them too,” Six said.

 

“Yeah, but we’ve always been special.”

 

Six looked at the book in front of him. It was a fictional sci-fi adventure where the main character was soulmates with the villain. Lately, he had been reading a lot about soulmates, both fiction and nonfiction. He wanted to understand his siblings’ situation, and he felt like he was getting closer to what he could get without experiencing it himself.

 

“You said soulmates can be platonic, right?” Four asked. “It could just be us with a stronger connection? Proof that we’re meant to be the bestest brothers ever?”

 

“...Yes,” Six confirmed.

 

“I want that to be us.”

 

Six did too, but the statistics were against them.

 

…

 

Their third public mission was where everything went wrong. Well, according to Sir Reginald Hargreeves, at least.

 

“Three and I will take the ones by the staircase. Six, I need you to use your powers in the storage room. Take Two for backup. Five, stop any that are running around. Four, um, you’re lookout,” Number One said.

 

“But I’m always lookout,” Four complained.

 

“Until you find a way to use your power in a fight, you’ll continue to be lookout.”

 

They all split up to where they were told to go, some happier than others.

 

“Do I have to?” Six asked.

 

“Yes,” Two stated, not letting the other argue. Six sighed, as he did frequently, but decided to get it over with. He entered the room, putting the door between him and Two so to not accidentally hurt him or the others. Facing the guys he was being forced to kill, he finally let the eldritch creatures go. They crept out slowly at first, then exploded into the open, grabbing everything and everyone around them.

 

But then, suddenly, he was not in that room anymore. Instead, he was bracing himself against the wall by the front door of the building. The eldritch was gone. The feeling of creatures crawling beneath his skin was no longer there. However, there was something new taking the place of “absolutely awful” in his mind.

 

Ghosts surrounded him, begging for help and screaming at him. They were gory, bloody, and very obviously dead.

 

This had to be Four’s body.

 

…

 

Number Four was bored. He was sick of being lookout! He knew that his abilities were useless in a fight, but there had to be something else he could do!

 

Four had been trying to deal with the ghosts, but he had no idea what to do. They were so scary, and none of them understood that he was unable to help them. His family was no help either. His father pushed him way past his limits and his siblings underestimated how bad the dead could be. Sure, there was a nice ghost here or there, but most chose to torment him when he tried to ignore them.

 

Sounds of screams came from inside, but none of them sounded like his siblings. That was a relief. They might not always be the most functional and healthy family, but Four didn’t want any of them to be hurt, or worse (expelled), dead. He wished that he could be in there helping, but he’d most likely get in the way.

 

Leaning against the wall, Four closed his eyes, trying to wait it out. He wasn’t paying attention to anything around him, which wasn’t good when being lookout, but he could not find it in himself to care.

 

The screams around him intensified, becoming more and more for their life than the desperate pleas of the dead. It kept getting louder until it sounded like they were right in front of him. This was accompanied by the most horrible feeling of something ripping him apart. Frantically looking around him, Four found tentacles erupting from his body, dismembering the others in the room.

 

No, not his body. This was Six’s body.

 

Four felt sick. He had no idea how to control these beings. Six struggled enough, but he had to deal with them his whole life. Four had no clue as to where to start fixing this situation.

 

Eventually, everyone around him was dead. The tentacles swung around a little more before settling back into his body. He could still feel them there, moving around, but it was better.

 

Blood covered Number Four as he exited the room in Six’s body. Tears started to well up in his eyes, and he was unable to stop them from falling.

 

Number Two stood in front of him, oblivious to his little problem. “Y-You did good, S-Six. I-I-It’s over now, there’s no need t-t-to-o cry.”

 

Four shook his head. “I didn’t know the eldritch was that unpleasant! How does he deal with that everyday?”

 

Two frowned, furrowing his eyebrows. “What?”

 

One, Three, and Five came over to them, telling them good job and that it was over. Four tried to utter more words, but nothing came out. He wasn’t able to do anything until he saw his own body come running over to him, tears also staining his cheeks. Six was just as afraid of the ghosts as Four was of the creatures in that body. As soon as Six saw Four, he launched himself into his arms. Together, they cried for each other, starting to understand what they had to go through all the time.

 

“Uh, what is happening here?” Three asked.

 

Six answered from the hug, refusing to move. “The ghosts are so much worse than anyone thought. They’re bloody and morbid and all they do is scream and threaten Four.”

 

“But, you are Four?” Two pointed out.

 

“Guys, stop this, an act like this is going to get us all punished,” One warned.

 

Six and Four froze, realizing exactly what situation they were in. They pulled away from each other, turning to their siblings, tears still falling silently. Six decided to use this opportunity to force Four to admit to the horrors he saw everyday.

 

“There’s a ghost right next to Five that has his head chopped messily off. The wound is still leaking blood, and it’s getting everywhere. Ghost blood does not look fun. He’s begging for the truth on whether his killer ever got what he deserved, but there’s no way to know that. It’s impossible to tell him, and he just keeps screaming.”

 

The others flinched. Four saw where this was going and continued it.

 

“Yeah, he shows up a lot. Knows when I’m making up answers too, somehow. Anyway, these creatures in this body are way more uncomfortable than Six lets on. It makes me feel sick whenever they move slightly. Not to mention the pains that come when they were outside of the skin. It was so bad!”

 

“Wait,” Five interrupted, “did you guys switch bodies?”

 

The two nodded, scared of what the other would say. Even Four, who usually acted confident, was nervous.

 

“At least you’re not all disgustingly in romantic love like One and Three over there. We needed a platonic pair in this family to balance that out,” Five said.

 

“Hey,” One was offended. Three merely shrugged, not caring about their opinions.

 

“I’m h-happy for you guys,” Two smiled. Four and Six grinned back, glad to know that they were accepted.

 

“Why aren’t you coming outside to meet the press?” Reginald asked as he marched inside.

 

“Sorry, sir,” One apologized, “we had a new situation come up.”

 

“And what is this ‘situation?’”

 

Four and Six had both hoped to maybe keep it a secret from their father, but of course One had to tell him straight away. They came clean, and they watched as Reginald’s face grew grim. He was not happy, but he was obviously already planning training for switch days.

 

“Let’s go, the press is waiting. Pretend to be each other for now. The world does not need to know,” Reginald commanded. The children followed him outside once his threat was complete.

 

As they went, Four studied his own body. “Hey, there’s blood on my outfit now!”

 

Six gave a small “sorry,” but neither of them really were. They needed that hug earlier, even if it did get Four’s body bloody.

 

…

 

One and Three only switched every three or four months or so, but Four and Six switched once a month, usually around the fourteenth every time. Reginald forced them to train and learn each other’s powers. Both were doing poorly with it, as they could barely stand their own abilities, much less a second terrifying skill.

 

On the bright side, they understood each other more easily now. They were able to help when the other was frightened, and they knew how hard their powers were on them. If their siblings thought they were close before, they were inseparable now.

 

Of course, there were bumps in their close brotherly bond. Four soon discovered that drugs could make the dead leave him alone. He started taking them slowly at first, but it eventually led to him only being sober when his father locked him up or when he switched with Six. His soulmate did not enjoy the high he would come to in their switch days, but he somewhat understood why he did it. The switch days were pleasantly ghost free.

 

And then, Five got into an argument with their father. He wanted to time travel, but Reginald held firm that he wasn’t ready.

 

So, Five left.

 

He never came back.

 

The rest of the Hargreeves children were pretty upset by the disappearance. Four couldn’t even summon him in his rare moments of sobriety. They all missed him, especially Number Seven. None of them would be the same, especially when viewing their powers. Even Grace seemed unsure of what to do. She wasn’t programmed to feel grief, but losing one of her children still upset her.

 

…

 

Klaus felt very alone at the moment. Ben was out on a mission that he wasn’t allowed to go on. He was feeling very angsty, and he wished for his soulmate to be by his side. Alas, his father had taken him away to who knows where.

 

Right, they had names now. Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, Ben, and Vanya. Too bad Number Five wasn’t there with them. Klaus would have loved to see what Grace would name him.  Probably something like Francis or… Cody, or something.

 

Klaus was trying to enjoy his lunch when he felt a sense of overwhelming dread and despair consume his body. He cried out, trying to stand, but only managed to fall over. Diego rushed over to catch him before he fell completely to the ground.

 

“Klaus? Are you alright?” Diego asked.

 

“Something’s wrong,” Klaus whispered before passing out.

 

When Klaus came to, he found himself surrounded by all of his siblings.

 

“What’s wrong?” He asked. “Why are you back from the mission so early, Luther?”

 

Luther grimaced. “Listen, Klaus…”

 

“And where’s Ben?”

 

Nobody spoke. Klaus started to panic.

 

“Where is he? Where is my soulmate? Why can’t I feel anything? I feel empty! Why do I feel empty? Where’s Ben?!”

 

Klaus cried harder and harder every second, and it got worse with what Luther said next.

 

“He didn’t make it.”

 

…

 

Losing his soulmate was the most painful thing Klaus had ever gone through. To make it worse, he couldn’t manifest him either. He hoped he was in heaven, even though he didn’t believe in that. Klaus hoped that Ben and Five were safe and happy somewhere.

 

Him, though? He was anything but happy. He was having a downright bad time, and nothing could help him. More and more drugs found their way into his body and blood one way or another. He became a whole mess.

 

…

 

One by one, they all left. Klaus was out on the streets, never getting past his mourning. Drugs became his attempt at filling the void left by his best friend.

 

…

 

Months passed.

 

…

 

Years.

 

…

 

Eventually, one day, Ben managed to find Klaus.

 

“Do you know how hard it was to navigate and find you?” He asked. “It was even harder trying to make myself look normal and not a bloody mess.”

 

Klaus only stared for a moment.

 

“B-Ben?” There were tears in his eyes. He was still high, so how was Ben even there at all? Was it because they were soulmates?

 

“I’m here, Klaus, I promise,” Ben said as he stepped forward, ready to give a hug. However, he passed through Klaus with a shudder. Klaus sobbed all night. Ben wished he could cry real tears as well.

 

…

 

A month later, they switched.

 

“Well, I feel like absolute garbage. How do you live like this?” Ben asked as he felt the sensation of being very high.

 

“How did we switch? You’re a ghost! You don’t have a body! Not a tangible one, at least! Nobody else can switch with their dead soulmate,” Klaus said, understandably freaking out.

 

“It’s most likely, or more like certainly, due to your powers. Isn’t this a good thing?”

 

“You get to be alive once a month, so I’d say that’s good. I’m just sad that I still can’t give you a hug.”

 

“Maybe if you were sober, you could make it so we could touch.”

 

…

 

“Klaus, this is ridiculous.”

 

…

 

“Please stop with the drugs.”

 

…

 

“You’re going to end up killing yourself permanently one day.”

 

…

 

Sir Reginald Hargreeves was dead. The siblings made their way back to the academy, bringing up old and new feelings in all of them.

 

The air was tense around Allison and Luther. Those two soulmates had not seen each other in years. Luther had not wanted to leave and accept that their father was a bad person. Allison left anyway, not wanting to deal with it. Then, she got married and had a kid while Luther was sent to the moon. It made their switch days really awkward.

 

Nobody knew that Klaus switched with Ben still. They had no idea that once a month he ghostified while Ben solidified.

 

Five was back as well, bringing news of the apocalypse. However, at first, only Klaus would fully listen with an open mind. Their conversation started about the end of the world, but eventually it led to Ben.

 

“Do you miss him?” Five asked, softer feelings filling him… not that he would allow Klaus to see that, of course.

 

“Everyday,” Klaus told him, “I miss being able to hold him. I am blessed to be able to speak to him, but I wish he was alive.”

 

Five glanced at him, confused. “What do you mean?”

 

“I can commune with the dead, remember?”

 

“Yeah, but you’re never sober, apparently! You’ve expressed how the drugs keep the ghosts at bay.”

 

Klaus stared at him blankly. “Ben still shows. He’s my soulmate.”

 

This caused Five to pause. “Oh, right, that makes sense. Do the others know?”

 

“You believe me?”

 

“Well, yeah, our powers don’t always work exactly how we think they would. Now, do the others know?”

 

“I tried telling them, but they don’t believe me.”

 

Five shook his head. Of course their siblings were too dumb to understand that sometimes Klaus wasn’t nearly as insane as he seemed.

 

Good thing Five was there for him.

 

…

 

Klaus was kidnapped, and then he went back in time. There, he met Dave and stayed with him for ten months.

 

Since Ben wasn’t part of that time period, a switch did not happen in those ten months. It made Klaus feel like a piece of him was missing, but he was in love and wanted to stay with Dave a while longer. He would get back to Ben. He’d just have to suffer without him for a bit. He did miss him a lot, though.  

 

“You alright?” Dave asked.

 

“Yes,” Klaus said, “Well, no. I need to tell you something important.”

 

“Okay, I’m listening.”

 

“So, I already told you about how I’m from the future and I can see the dead.”

 

“Yes,” Dave nodded.

 

“There’s another thing. I have a soulmate. He’s in my time, and he’s dead, but I can still switch with him because of my powers. We usually switch one a month, but I haven’t switched in several months now due to being in a different time. I miss it.”

 

“And, this soulmate…” Dave trailed off,  but Klaus knew what he wanted to know.

 

“Oh, no, Ben is my brother. Adopted, but we’re just platonic soulmates. I like to think we’re the closest siblings ever.”

 

Dave sighed in relief. “Good, I thought you were about to tell me that you had a man at home that you love more than me.”

 

“I love Ben as a brother, but I’m in love with you,” Klaus reassured him.

 

And then, Dave died, and Klaus returned to his time.

 

…

 

“Didn’t we just switch like a week ago?” Ben asked from Klaus’ body.

 

“Yeah, well, it’s been ten months for me,” Klaus as ghost Ben said.

 

“How was time traveling?”

 

“Well, I fought in the Vietnam War, suffered from missing you, and dealt with a lot of homophobic language.”

 

“So why didn’t you come back sooner?”

 

Klaus smiled. “I fell in love.”

 

“And he started you on your path to sobriety?”

 

“He died, and I’d like to see him again, so yes.”

 

“Can’t wait for you to finally be free of drugs. Now, come on, our family is probably waiting for us to help with the apocalypse.”

 

At the house, they realized that they did not know how to bring up being switched. All of their siblings, save for Five, were there, and Ben would have to figure out how to explain fast because as soon as he saw some of them, he began to cry. Vanya was closest, and he brought her in for a hug. He was mad that they had all let Klaus down so many times, but he also missed them.

 

“Woah, Klaus, what’s up?” Diego questioned while Vanya stood there confused.

 

Ben wiped tears from his face as he pulled away from the hug, always having a hard time getting used to being in a living body when they switched. “I’m not Klaus.”

 

“What do you mean?” Luther asked.  

 

“It’s me. It’s Ben.”

 

Luther glared at him. “Do you think that’s funny, Klaus? Ben’s dead! Is that a joke to you?! You were soulmates, for crying out loud! Don’t you feel any remorse?”

 

“And did you ever think that Klaus’ powers would let him and I connect still? You’ve ignored his problems and his pleas for you guys to listen for so long! How would you know how our bond works?”

 

“You’re not a very good actor.”

 

“I’m not acting!”

 

“Ben was quiet, remember?” Allison reminded him, “I would have thought you’d know that.”

 

“Years have passed. People change,” Ben said, annoyed that they didn’t believe him.

 

“You can’t even see ghosts with those drugs, they would prevent this claim as well,” Diego said, though he was a little more hesitant. He wanted to believe his brother, but it was hard when it had to do with their long dead sibling.

 

“Klaus is sober right now, and even so, I have been here for years. We could always switch still,” Ben explained. The others shook their heads, leaving the room to avoid what they considered nonsense. Diego gave him one last sorrowful look before allowing himself to exit as well.

 

Klaus, as a ghost in Ben’s “body,” came to stand next to him. “I didn’t expect any less than that.”

 

“Sorry,” Ben whispered, ashamed that he couldn’t get them to see the truth.

 

“It’s fine, you tried,” Klaus shrugged.

 

Later that night, Ben sat alone on the front porch, staring at the sky. Klaus was nearby, testing out his ghostly properties by going through everything he could find: walls, flowers, trees, rocks, etc… The front door opened from behind Ben, but he did not turn to look. Somebody sat beside him.

 

“We’ll convince them eventually,” Five said. Ben glanced at him, his shoulders slumped. “They told me what happened. I tried to say that it was true, but they weren’t having it.”

 

“Thanks for believing us, Five,” Ben spoke up after a few minutes. “It’s good to see you again after so long.”

 

“You as well, Ben. I’m glad I get this chance to talk to you a little bit. It sucked when I found out you had been dead for years when I went to the future.”

 

The two talked for a short time, watching the outside world together. Ben laughed at Klaus’ antics every now and then, earning a wide grin from the temporary ghost. He had to explain to Five what was happening, and he seemed amused too. Eventually, Five had to go back inside to work on fixing the apocalypse, but the moment had been nice after such a long time of heartache for all of them.

 

Later, they would try to convince the others of Ben still being there, but first they had to make sure the world survived.

 

…

 

Turned out, it was Vanya who caused the apocalypse. A lot happened during the time since Ben and Klaus’ last switch and then, including Klaus making Ben tangible for a moment to use the Eldritch creatures against their attackers. Their other siblings would have to believe them now.

 

The moon was hurtling towards them. Of course they couldn’t catch a break. When they thought they were safe and had accomplished stopping the destruction, everything turned against them once more.

 

Luckily, Five had a new plan. They gathered around, taking each other’s hands. Ben tried his best to grip Klaus’ arm, but he phased through. As Five began to use his powers, Klaus managed to manifest Ben long enough to allow him to grip onto him and tag along on their trip through time.

 

Everything went distorted for a moment, and when they came to, the moon was back in its proper place and they were teenagers again.

 

…

 

All of them (except for Five) were baffled about what happened, but they were relieved not to be dead. They looked around at each other, all coming to focus on something behind Klaus, all of their eyes wide.

 

The hand on his arm was unmistakingly solid; completely, thoroughly solid. He wasn’t even using his powers to manifest anybody anymore. The person behind him was naturally solid. Turning around, teenage Klaus came face to face with a grinning, very much alive, teenage Ben.

 

“Ben!” Klaus cried, throwing himself at the other boy. They hugged each other closely, not wanting to ever let go again. It had been too long since they had been able to embrace. They had worked hard at it after Ben had punched him as a ghost, but they never made much progress. Tears leaked from their eyes, but neither seemed to mind. Despite having seen each other every day, they had missed their best friend.

 

“Ben?” Another voice spoke up. The two peeked at the others, still not letting go. Their siblings were shocked to see their dead brother alive again.

 

“Is that you?” Diego asked. Ben nodded, confirming that it wasn’t a trick. The seven were fully reunited once again.

 

…

 

Klaus was the only one not surprised when Ben turned full lecture mode on the others. They were used to quiet, closed-off Ben from before, but Klaus knew the truth. The real Ben was a force to be reckoned with.

 

“I literally switched with Klaus, admitted it to you all when I could have kept it a secret, and was told that I was Klaus making it up,” Ben said. “Nobody believed that I had been there for years, even though your own brother can see the dead. You’re all very aware of that! Yes, there were drugs, but when have our powers ever been predictable? There was also the factor of us being soulmates! Don’t even get me started on all of the other times you have neglected Klaus or each other!”

 

As Ben continued to rant to their guilt-stricken siblings, Klaus leaned on his shoulder, know better than to interrupt. He was fine with resting against him and waiting for it to be over.

 

Since they were children again, they would have to deal with a lot of new and old problems. The difference this time was that they had one another to count on. Sir Reginald Hargreeves was alive and back in their lives, so they would have to somehow explain their names since they came back before Grace had bestowed them upon them. They also had to figure out how to fix the apocalypse from happening in their own time before returning to said time period. It was a lot, and they all knew that. However, looking at how all of them felt more comfortable with their family and had determination filling their eyes, it was obvious that they would manage to do it as a proper team.


End file.
